(ANSA) – ISLAMABAD, 19 DEC – By the middle of next year, the universal poverty of Afghanistan, with a 97% share of the population, could be the next “sad milestone” of the country: the undersecretary general said of the United Nations, Martin Griffith, in his speech to the OIC Foreign Ministers Council on Afghanistan today in Islamabad.
Within a year, Griffith added, 30% of Afghanistan’s GDP could be wiped out and male unemployment could double to 29%. Griffith pointed out that 23 million people in the country already suffer from hunger; health facilities overflow with malnourished children; about 70% of teachers are unpaid; millions of children are not in school; the value of the currency is plummeting and trade – damaged by a lack of confidence in the financial sector – has shrunk dramatically.
According to the undersecretary, in 2022 the UN will seek funding worth a record 4.5 billion dollars for humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable in Afghanistan. Griffith then explained that there is a need for liquidity and that there is an urgent need to stabilize the country’s banking system not only to save lives but also to allow humanitarian organizations to respond and operate effectively. The basic social services on which all Afghans depend, he further commented, are collapsing and international support for domestic development – on which the country has been dependent for so long – could be completely blocked by the middle of next year. (HANDLE).
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Source From: Ansa
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